What is the adaptive potential of marine invertebrate populations and associated or emerging microorganisms in a global context of global change?

Aquaculture is a fast-growing food sector. Globally, the production of marine invertebrates, especially marine crustaceans and bivalves, continues to grow. In particular, these species have the advantage of being low trophic and of being able to be integrated into integrated multitrophic aquaculture schemes.

Marine invertebrates are not only of economic but also ecological interest. Indeed, by making it possible to reveal environmental changes, species such as marine bivalves act as sentinels within coastal ecosystems. In addition, some species are part of the so-called ecosystem engineer species with the ability to create a favourable habitat for many other living organisms. Unfortunately, these species are threatened by the increase in the frequency of mass mortality events associated with pathogenic microorganisms (viruses, bacteria and protozoa) and the context of global change that can be locally aggravated by environmental degradation.

Thus, considering their key role in coastal ecosystems and their interest as exploitable resources, it is essential to ensure the sustainability of the populations of marine and wild invertebrates.

The ASIM unit stems from the restructuring of the SG2M unit and more specifically from the evolution of the Laboratory of Genetics and Pathology of the Moleculars-LGPMM. It is one of the units of the Biological Resources and Environment Department of Ifremer.

Located in La Tremblade in Charente Maritime, at the heart of one of Europe’s largest shellfish ecosystems, the ASIM unit’s main objectives are to understand or even anticipate the emergence of pathogenic organisms and to understand how marine invertebrates adapt to environmental changes, the loss of biodiversity and the alteration of the quality of ecosystems.